


Electrifying Magic

by Mysterious_L



Series: Tale Of Short Stories [3]
Category: Doesn’t really fit a fandom – Fandom
Genre: Gen, Idk this is weird but enjoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 07:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20485268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterious_L/pseuds/Mysterious_L
Summary: William Franklin and his fascination with lighting and magic





	Electrifying Magic

**Author's Note:**

> So this started off as a wattpad challenge and then was revamped for a class assignment do here you go.   
The “” are basically Williams inner thoughts dialogue as he grows up around his father. Everything else is like a narrative overview of the events that unfolded.

William Franklin was born in a small British America Colony later to be known as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son to one Benjamin Franklin a prominent leading figure in the city and a man of many talents. 

“William’s father built many things that he didn’t always understand at first. It didn’t bother him not really. William was only nine so he wasn’t going to understand everything. He was just excited that he got to watch his father working from time to time. Besides as he grew up he’d come to understand things he didn’t before. If his father knew he was curious about one of his latest projects or inventions he’d take William aside and educate him on what it was about or what he hoped to accomplish with it. It was one of the many things he admired about his father.”

Little did he know, that his father's newest experiment would forever change the world as he knew it. In the year 1743, William's father attended a lecture on electricity given by Scottish Dr. Archibald Spencer while in Boston. When his father returned William noticed that something had changed in his father. 

“Whatever this was it was something new, something entirely different from anything he’d ever seen before. William didn’t quite understand, but he guessed he didn’t need to just yet. There were a lot of things he didn’t understand but, that was what being twelve almost thirteen entailed. So, he watched and tried to make sense of it himself. He watched as his father would shut himself up in his workshop for hours even days on end. Occasionally though, he’d sneak down. He’d watch through the window as his father worked and did things William might never be able to fully explain. It was like magic, but with science which was pretty amazing. The downside though is his father was a lot more tired now. Ever since coming back from his trip he’s been very tired. Dark circles always under his eyes. William could tell how much this new project meant to his father. He just wanted his father to not look so tired all the time if even just for a little while. He was awake whenever he was put to bed and whenever he got up in the morning. Usually if he’d asked his father might explain his project to William but not this time. Because whenever he did his father would just shake his head, ruffle his hair and say not now. Despite his ever growing curiosity, William decided that maybe it was best if he were to leave his father to his own devices.”

Before this new experiment William would be allowed to observe his father every now and then. Maybe even assist him in some small way whenever he wanted to test something. Having a father like his expanded his knowledge and way of thinking more so than he would learn say in school. However, William had never encountered this before and his father wasn’t very forthcoming about his research which puzzled him greatly.

Even though, William had to decided to leave his father be it doesn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and gain some grasp on what exactly his father was studying and why he was so so obsessed with it on his own. William would try to come up with his own ideas based on what he knew so far. However, even that wasn’t enough to satisfy his ever growing curiosity. Whatever it was he hoped he’d get a chance to explore it with his father at some point before his father moved on to his next project. Instead days bled into weeks and weeks bled into months.

No one was more shocked than William that his father's interest with his new project had only grown. While William knew that his father wouldn’t stop still he got the answers he was searching for, William had never known for the obsession to last this long or his father to need so much time to unlock the mystery behind whatever he was invested in. This one mystery of the world could very well eclipse everything else he had ever done. 

Four years pass and it is now 1747. William was now sixteen. His father had begun conducting a new series of experiments that unbeknownst to either of them would one day make him a household name around the world. As his father continued his experiments, William having now spent lost of his years watching his father expanded on electricity finally had a more advanced understanding of what lightning really is. Every discovery his father made garnered more questions and more experiments.

“Then one day suddenly a lot was happening around William. His father decided to take his research beyond the normal means of testing. He would apply it to one of mankind’s most fearsome foes lightning! William almost fell over from shock when he heard his father’s plan. He couldn’t believe it; his father had pushed the extents of his experiments before but this time he was going too far! He wanted to try to harness one of these agents of divine wrath! Something that is capable of destroying trees and houses was unimaginable to William! Which only added to his fear because he even had been brought up to believe that applying science to the problem could come up with a solution yet, no one has ever come up with an explanation to explain lighting. Could his father possibly test something so devastating and magical?”

William in his heart knew that his father could probably pull this off but his mind believed that maybe this time his father was in over his head. Regardless of all the advances he’s made with electricity so far. Now suddenly his father had decided that without a doubt he was going to prove that mankind's beliefs all this time had been false. William was absolutely dumbfounded and was anxious about how this might play out.

On July 29, 1750 William watched his father write a letter of his conclusions to a man named Collinson. Collinson then in sent back a response proposing his father should publish his findings as a book, so others could study and learn from his father. Looking back over the years William had a feeling that something astounding might come of this. However, the events that unfolded not even he could have foreseen. Later that year Collinson sent his father another correspondence saying he’d sent a copy of father’s work to famous French naturalists Georges-Louis Leclerc, and Comte de Buffon. Following the reading of his work the two French men decided to invite his father to travel to France and perform his lightning experiments following his proposal. 

Two more years would pass and at the age of 21 William despite his skepticism joined his father as he performed his later world renowned kite experiment. His father uses a kite with hemp string which had a house key attached to it. This was connected to a Leyden Jar; and a silk string was then attached to this.

When William inquired about the difference between this experiment and his father's previous attempts, he was told that this allowed him to stay on the ground and it was less likely for the lightning to strike either of them. William was then handed the silk string and told to keep it dry while the hemp end was left in the rain to get wet for conductivity. 

William and his father stood inside the doorway of their home to keep the silk string dry and each other safe. He watched as his father held his hand near the key and saw a brief spark. While it may not have been as tremendous or grand as he might of thought, with this his father's theory was undoubtedly proved correct. After that William thought the whole world had changed.

Now, William always watched with bated breath when he saw the dark clouds rolling in and then huge bolts of lightning light up the sky. Thigh he now had the science behind this amazing phenomenon lightning he believed it doesn't diminish the element of magic that it leaves behind. William watches as the light fades from the sky if just for a second only for it to be replaced by another bolt of lightning. This would become somewhat of ritual for William from now on until the day he was no longer apart of this world.

**Author's Note:**

> Well the end. This turned out a lot longer then I thought.


End file.
